Cool Beans (for November)

November 11, 2006

One of the highlights of this month here in LA for me is the concert performance of Gerald Barry's opera The Triumph of Love and Deceit which will take place at the Disney Concer Hall on 11/28 as part of their new music series. Thomas Adès will conduct as part of his two week "residency" here which will also include performances of his Asyla.

In addition to Triumph, I've been listening to the most fabulous recording of Barry's most recent opera The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, based on the most fabulous Fassbinder film of the same name. In fact, the libretto appears to be more or less a direct setting of the screenplay itself. There is a lovely RTÉ recording available of concert performances given in Dublin in May 2005. Barry's use of somewhat competing horn passages to set off the vocal parts of the female cast creates an effect that works well with the piece's tone and content. It's cool beans—you should check it out.